rison
with that faith which they cannot plant, though they may strengthen it,
they are nothing; and in the matter of uniting the soul to God and
making men 'religious,' they are of no avail at all.

And such thoughts as these have a very wide sweep, as well as a very
deep influence. Religion is the devotion of the soul to God. Then
_everything_ besides is not religion, but at most a means to it. That is
true about all Christian ordinances. Baptism is spoken about by Paul in
terms which plainly show that he regarded it as 'nothing' in the same
sense, and under the same limitations, as he thought that circumcision
was nothing. 'I baptized some of you,' says he to the Corinthians; 'I
scarcely remember whom, or how many. I have far more important work to
do--to preach the Gospel.' It is true about all acts and forms of
Christian worship. These are not religion, but means to it. Their only
value and their only test is--Do they help men to know and feel Christ
and His truth? It is true about laws of life, and many points of
conventional morality. Remember the grand freedom with which the same
Apostle dealt with questions about meats offered to idols, and the
observance of days and seasons. The same principle guided him there too,
and he relegated the whole question back to its proper place with, 'Meat
commendeth us not to God; for neither if we eat are we the better,
neither if we eat not are we the worse.' 'He that regardeth the day,
regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the
Lord he doth not regard it.' It is true, though less obviously and
simply, about subordinate doctrines. It is true about the mere
intellectual grasp of the fundamental truths of God's revelation. These,
and the belief of these, are not Christianity, they are helps towards
it.

The separation is broad and deep. On one side are all externals, rites,
ceremonies, politics, Church arrangements, forms of worship, modes of
life, practices of morality, doctrines, and creeds--all which are
externals to the soul: on the other is faith working through love, the
inmost attitude and deepest emotion of the soul. The great heap is fuel.
The flame is loving faith. The only worth of the fuel is to feed the
flame. Otherwise it is of no avail, but lies dead and cold, a mass of
blackness. We are joined to God by faith. Whatever strengthens that
faith is precious as a help, but is worthless as a substitute.

III. There is a constant tendency to